Alexander Hamilton X John Lauren's Letters

chapter 1

The letters excerpted here begin in 1779 when Hamilton was twenty-two and Laurens was twenty-five. Both young revolutionaries were part of that close male circle surrounding General Washington--his "family," as the general called them.
The American Revolution was in progress; John Laurens had left camp for South Carolina, hoping to be authorized by that colony's assembly to organize battalions of Black slaves to fight the British.

In April, 1779, Hamilton writes to him:
Cold in my professions, warm in my friendships, I wish, my Dear Laurens, it might be in my power, by action rather than words, to convince you that I love you. I shall only tell you that 'till you bade us Adieu, I hardly knew the value you had taught my heart to set upon you. Indeed, my friend, it was not well done. You know the opinion I entertain of mankind, and how much it is my desire to preserve myself free from particular attachments, and to keep my happiness independent on the caprice of others. You should not have taken advantage of my sensibility to steal into my affections without my consent. But as you have done it and as we are generally indulgent to those we love, I shall not scruple to pardon the fraud you have committed, on condition that for my sake, if not for your own, you will always continue to merit the partiality, which you have so artfully instilled into me.